Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to graphically visualizing and manipulating hierarchical data. More specifically, the invention relates to providing modifying perspective of the data through interactive re-organization of the hierarchy.
Background
A tree map is a graphical technique representing data through a nested hierarchy. Specifically, the tree map is a visualization technique that enables users to efficiently discover relationships in complex datasets. Tree maps present data in a hierarchical containment fashion that groups objects within objects. The data may include non-hierarchical relationships, but the visualization is strictly hierarchical, e.g. the data can be described by multiple hierarchical relationships, one at a time. Relationships are visualized by dynamically reordering the display to represent different views.
While tree mapping is useful in presenting data in a hierarchical order, sometimes the order in which the data is presented might require adjustment to display different viewpoints within the data. A technique developed to address this issue includes a recordable linear list of attributes in the display that are reorganized by dragging attributes to different positions. However, this solution requires that re-organization controls are displayed separately from an associated display. In this solution, additional real estate on an associated visual display is required. When performing a re-organization operation, focus is placed on a list of attributes rather than on the display, and cognitive effort must be expended when mapping the linear list of attributes to the containment relation in the mapping.